The Wolf of Jade Mountain
by Jdragon8
Summary: Moonstone has a secret. The secret that kills. Only she knows about it, and when invited to Jade Mountain Academy, making friends is going to be nigh on impossible. But when dragons start going missing, she knows that she may be the only one who can track them down...
1. Chapter 1

The wind was cold, and the mist was gathering like a thick blanket of cobwebs. The moss below was cold, and wet her claws. A freezing wing caused the trees to sing eerily. It was hard to tell whether it was daytime or not, as the twisting fog obstructed her view. Was it normal to feel a little uneasy in conditions like this?

Moonstone shivered, wishing she'd brought more than just a pouch to keep snacks in. She'd finished those a while ago, and was hungry again too.

_How much further till I get to Jade Mountain? I hope they'll accept me. _she thought, worrying with her claws. A small splash below her talons told her she'd stepped into a small river. _Water! _she was so happy, she lapped it up, and when she'd drunk enough to make her stop feeling hungry for a second, she continued walking, hoping to find a way out of this fog. She was way too tired to fly. As if by magic, the mist suddenly cleared, and she found herself out of the dense mist-ridden forest, and climbing a shallow slope. In the distance, she saw the dual peaks of Jade Mountain. _Ack, I climbed the wrong mountain. _she laughed to herself. _At least it's daytime. _

She wandered a little higher up the cliffside, and then stopped, flopping down in exhaustion . _I wish I got around more, then this wouldn't be so hard, I don't have enough stamina. My tribe was so isolated for so long, and due to the great war, which hardly any of us knew about, we didn't leave the rainforest._

She reluctantly got up as the sun was setting, and the school expected the new intake to arrive before then. _Urghhhhhh. _she grumbled in her head. _I _have_ to fly or I won't make it._

Taking to the air, and to her relief, she caught a fast current easily, and that took her around half the way before the wind dropped significantly and she had to do exhausting manual work. A SkyWing could have made it to Jade Mountain in five minutes from the rainforest, which was where she had come from. She had left at _sunrise_ so she wouldn't have gotten late.

The two peaks looked almost like stone fangs, jutting out from the ground. As she got closer, and circled in to land, she noticed that by the entrance to Jade Mountain Academy, the stone had been smoothed and polished, probably to decrease the risk of injury for younger dragonets. Obviously, it could still hurt if you ran or flew into it, but at least there weren't any sharp points on it.

Swooping down, she collapsed on the soft welcoming grass, and lay there, letting her scales change to a light golden yellow of relief. She spread her talons into the grass and cherished the moment. Suddenly, she heard a voice. It said: "Oh, hello!". Moonstone groaned internally. Couldn't she just relax for a little while longer? Did she have to get up?

Moonstone looked up, aching in every limb. "Hi." she said, in the politest, shyest, not-exhausted-at-all way possible. _I'd better give the impression of being shy, but nice. I'm certainly not shy in real life, but I don't want these other dragons to hate me from the moment they meet me, or think of me as loud and rowdy._

"What's your name?" the black dragon said. Moonstone stood up, limbs shaking with effort, and the setting sun caught something on the dragon's face. There was a silver teardrop scale in the corner of each eye, which vanished as she smiled. "Moonstone, right? Don't be freaked out, I know all of the dragonets' names here already. I'm not a mind reader." she grinned in a friendly way. "I'm Fatespeaker, and I'm not a teacher, but you'll see me around, mostly at the library, helping Starflight. Come on inside, and I'll show you to your cave."

Fatespeaker beckoned, and Moonstone followed. "So, the plan for today was, get used to this place, get to know some of the dragonets here, maybe make some friends. Tomorrow, we'll have discussion classes where we talk to the dragons we haven't already talked to."

"Ok..." Moonstone said, looking down at her feet. They walked in silence for a bit.

"Hey," Fatespeaker said reassuringly, putting one wing over her. "It's ok to be shy around dragons you don't know, and that's fine. Just take deep breaths, and try to keep your brain from running around inside your head like a terrified chinchilla." There was a long pause. "And if you don't mind me asking, why are you called Moonstone?"

"Uh..." Moonstone said, trying to come up with a lie to hide the real reason. The real reason was that she had... an ability. She knew nobody else had it, and she had been pushed out of to the outskirts of the RainWing village because of it. "I found a moonstone in the rainforest and I ate it, and it bleached these scales on my chest. It doesn't hurt, but actually it's pretty cool. I usually get anxiety attacks when people ask me about it though." she forced a laugh, and then wished she didn't.

"That's really interesting. Thank you for letting me know." Fatespeaker nodded curiously. "Ah, here we are."

They both stopped at the cave, and Moonstone noticed that everyone was asleep. "See you around." Fatespeaker dipped her head, before walking down the corridor. There was a SkyWing and a MudWing in the cave, both resting peacefully and breathing regularly. "Wait, one question." she called after Fatespeaker's departing back.

Fatespeaker twisted her neck around. "Yes?" she said, in an open-to-any-question-you-give-me voice.

"What are their names? The other dragonets, I mean."

"Flicker and Alligator." Fatespeaker waited a bit longer, before adding, "Good night." then she strolled down the corridor, either to wait for more late students, or to go to her own bed.

Moonstone looked around, and spotted a woven hammock that was high up. _Better than nothing._ She took long tired flaps, and reached it, before settling down and falling asleep almost instantly. The dim rays of the sun faded.


	2. Chapter 2

She woke with a start. Blinking her bleary eyes, she looked down to see that the hammock she was sleeping on had claw marks on it, and was nearly torn in two. She was surprised to see it had managed to support her weight. Fearing the worst, she looked even further, down to the room below. She was relieved to see that it was as immaculate as before. _Thank the moons._ Then the canopy gave way and she fell down just as a SkyWing entered the room.

"Oh, hello." She said, getting onto her feet. "Flicker, right?" The SkyWing nodded, but didn't say anything.

"It's nice here, umm… one problem. My hammock is in tatters, I don't know if you could move your things along so I can sleep on that rocky ledge?"

Flicker nodded, smiling pleasantly. She walked over to her bed, and shifted the mess so it didn't take up two ledges.

"If you don't mind me asking, why aren't you talking?"

Flicker got out a tablet and chalk, and scrawled on it _"I am mute,"_ in curly letters.

"Oh."

Flicker turned the slate towards her again, after scribbling. _"Don't worry, you'll soon get the hang of living with a silent dragon. I am not completely SkyWing though, which is not very obvious. My mother isn't a SkyWing… Can I demonstrate to you my special ability?" _

"Sure." Moonstone smiled. _She seems nice. _Her eyes wandered to a scar on Flicker's throat. _Might be related to why she can't speak. I'm surprised how much writing she can fit onto that slate._

Flicker held up the tablet, and took a deep breath. Then, as she breathed out, ice crystals began to form. "You're part IceWing? Cool!" Moonstone gasped.

_"That's not all!" _Flicker breathed in again, and then exhaled a plume of fire. It melted the ice, and she tucked it back into her pouch.

"WOW!" Moonstone clapped her talons in delight, knowing that her scales were probably bright pink or yellow. _Should I give away my secret? Maybe just to warn her._

_But I don't want to ruin my first chance at a friend. But she's trusted me with hers, I can trust her with mine._

She cleared her throat. "I.. uh… want to show you something too."

Flicker nodded her head encouragingly.

Moonstone took a deep breath, and channelled all of her power into her arms. They sprouted hair, and turned into wolf-like paws instead. Flicker gasped in shock and delight. Moonstone shook them, and they turned back. "Uh… please don't tell anyone."

"Tell anyone what?"

They twisted round. Alligator was standing in the hallway. "What are you gossiping about?" She sneered, her growl making the scar on her face crease up. She padded over to them, and looked at them fiercely.

"I was just showing her my scale patterns." Moonstone lied. Flicker nodded.

Alligator scowled. "Let's see then."

Moonstone willed her scales to change into zig-zaggy black lines over her tail, to make it look a bit wasp-like. Alligator grunted in a bored way.

Moonstone sighed internally. Then, she made her scales look like the swamp, and added a frog leaping around on her neck.

Alligator's face became a mask of horror, and she shrieked, "Don't remind me of that place!" before throwing the scroll she was holding at Moonstone. It hit her on the side of the head, and she collapsed to the floor. Her entire body was screaming to shift, and chase Alligator down the corridor.

She stood there, quivering in shock and sudden rage that filled her up. She wasn't sure why she was so angry. She just _was._

She forced herself to take deep breaths.

She was calm.

Ow. Her head really hurt.

She looked over to the scroll that had been thrown at her. It had sharp, teeth like edges.

Flicker held up her slate again. _"You're bleeding."_

Moonstone touched the side of her head which was pure white, apart from the blood from the wound which made it red.

She felt the ground judder under her feet, and she passed out.


	3. Chapter 3

She woke, groaning. She was lying in the underground lake, its cool waters washing all of the dried blood away.

She looked up, to see Clay's concerned face staring back at her. "Calm down, you're safe. You've got a small cut, but I'm more worried about your head. Can you remember your name? Your age?" he said softly.

"I'm Moonstone. I'm... 5 years old."

She could feel her wolf side bubble up again, and she closed her eyes to hide their alteration, and her talons felt like they were getting shorter and more wolf-like. When the feeling subsided, she opened her eyes.

Flicker was there too, sad and worried. She glanced down at her, and Moonstone saw, reflected in her eyes, the pain when she had lost her voice. Suddenly, Flicker was there, next to her as she collapsed, almost under the water. Flicker still had the images in her eyes, but they were clouded with worry.

Moonstone felt faint, and slipped under the water. She felt claws grab at her, but she swam away, and through her bleary eyes, she saw a fish swim her way. No, wait, fish didn't have wings.

She felt claws grab for her, and she kicked away. The dragon had a huge blanket that he was going to grab her with, she knew it. She growled, came up for air, and lashed at the dragon, feeling her blood burn under her skin. She felt the wolf gain control and she bit the dragon hard on the leg. She clawed at him, then swam away, and out.

_Someone tried to _kidnap _me!_

She burst out of the water, and watched the water slowly turning red. The kidnapped had got away, alive. _I bet he'll try again, though._

She flicked her tail, and Clay said, "You need to rest. Is that your blood?"

"No. Someone tried to kidnap me."

Clay's face flickered with shock. "I need to tell Tsunami and Sunny."


End file.
